Wednesday, May 7, 2014

YOU CAN WRITE A MYSTERY: LESSON TWO

LESSON TWO: THE CRIME

The
first mystery I tried to write was an agonizing experience.

I
had a great crime to solve.

Lots
of great suspects.

Lots
of great intrigue.

A
great heroine with lots of moxie.

While
I wrote I struggled along with her to solve the case. The problem was that I
had no idea of who committed the crime, how they did it or why. I was writing
the story from a reader's point of view. This meant that as the story
progressed, it kept changing.

About a
third of the way in and I’d get stuck, because I really didn’t know where I was
headed. After several “weak fixes” I’d struggle on and then come up with the
perfect solution. The problem was that the “new fantastic idea” had a ripple
effect like a tsunami in reverse. I’d have to go back to page one and rewrite.
Losing characters. Adding new characters.

Changing settings. Deleting scenes
that didn’t fit anymore. Writing new scenes that did. And. And. And. And it
didn’t just happen once, but three or four times. All on the same manuscript. I
think in the end I threw away about 200 pages.

Lesson Two
is designed to help you avoid the waste-of-time-rewriting syndrome of not
having a solid crime plot before you start to write.

Your job
is to work out the details of the crime.

1. What
did he (or she) do?

2. How
did he do it?

3. Why
did he do it?

4. What's
his plan to avoid being caught?

5. What's
his relationship with his victim? And your hero?

6. How is
he covering his tracks?

Now it's
time write out the actual crime scene as it happens from the criminal's point
of view. This scene probably won't appear in your final story, but it will help
you focus and provide you with the vital clues you need to sprinkle into your
manuscript.

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